


The Mission Continues

by Nesmiths



Category: Star Trek: The Original Series
Genre: Asexual Spock, M/M, Multi, Polyamory
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-24
Updated: 2020-08-04
Packaged: 2021-03-05 04:13:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,400
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25478221
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nesmiths/pseuds/Nesmiths
Summary: Part 2 of "A Five Year Mission"4 years laterhttps://archiveofourown.org/works/21834301/chapters/54224341
Relationships: Leonard "Bones" McCoy/Spock, Pavel Chekov/Leonard "Bones" McCoy, Pavel Chekov/Leonard "Bones" McCoy/Spock
Kudos: 4





	1. Medical Log, Earth Year 2272, Spock Exists

**Author's Note:**

> Think of this short first chapter as a pilot episode...
> 
> Also prepare yourselves for the impending crazy bullshit.

“Medical Log, Earth Year 2272. The patient is stable, albeit green with envy.” Leonard drawled, lips quirked in an amused grin. His eyes were set on the curious Vulcan, whose eyes were very much on him. 

The Vulcan trailed Leonard’s broad chest, studying how his starfleet uniform undershirt stretched over him, defining every muscle. “Not quite, doctor. And I wish you’d stop using earth years in your logs. Eventually, they’re going to ask you to stop.”

Leonard propped himself up off of his pillow with his elbows. “You’re really going to criticise my logs and call me doctor, in our bed?” He tilted his head, lower lip jutting out as if to punctuate the playful accusation. 

Spock raised his brow, returning Leonard’s gaze with a quizical expression. “You don’t seem to mind when Pavel says it…”

“Oh god, never change.” Leonard relaxed, gently guiding Spock to his chest. “Have I told you I loved you yet today?”

“I’m afraid I do not follow, and no, you have not.” Spock rested his head on the doctor’s chest. 

The doctor hesitated for moment before speaking. “It’s for...less innocent reasons, darlin”. 

Spock didn’t have an answer for that, for once, though Leonard could’ve sworn he’d managed to somehow become even greener.

Suddenly, as if he’d appeared from nowhere, or as if the two men weren’t paying attention, Pavel stood beside the bed with a small breakfast tray. “Oh, you’re finally awake.” The youngest man teased as he set the tray in an empty spot on the bed. “Plomeek tea and sliced Gespar,” He said, taking a seat and resting his arm on Spock’s side.

“It is unnecessary to spoil me like this…” Spock reached down and grabbed a slice of the sweet fruit. 

Pavel leaned down to kiss his cheek. “I disagree,” He sighed. “I wish I could stay, but I promised Lieutenant Christoff that I’d help him sort files this morning.”

“Yeah, I gotta get outta here soon, too.” Leonard sat up, causing Spock to do the same. 

“I love you two.” The younger man said before getting up. “I’ll be home in less than three hours, promise.” With that he headed out the door.

It didn’t take Leonard and Spock very long to clean their plates of gespar. It was an acquired taste, equal parts sweet and bitter.  
“Do you really have to pick up your shift today? Maxim will be in-office all day anyway.” The Vulcan’s words bordering on a whine. He was too comfortable here with Leonard. Pavel’s absence was annoying enough as it was. 

Before Leonard could speak the ship rumbled followed by a thunderous clap. “No doubt that caused a few bumps and bruises…,” he said, getting up from the bed carefully. The doctor gingery stretched out his sleep-stiff muscles as he made his way to the closet. “Damn ships probably fallin’ apart.”

“It felt more like a small asteroid cluster.” Spock suggested, lazily rolling out of bed in pursuit of his uniform.


	2. Planet Q

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leonard finds himself on a strange new planet.

Leonard took his place on the transporter with a heaping helping of genuine discomfort. As soon as he’d made it to the medbay, Kirk had called him to the transporter room. They’d found a new planet and needed to beam down immediately, apparently. 

Of course he knew the importance of learning of primitive new cultures, but he’d also overheard Scotty saying that he’d made some updates to the transporter systems. 

“This better not tear us to shreds…” The doctor groaned half-heartedly. 

“Aye, You’ve really got to learn to trust me by now doctor.” Scotty spoke, pressing a few buttons. 

“...as well as the Federation.” 

“That right there is the problem.” Leonard sighed just as Kirk gave the sign to transport.

Upon landing Leonard brushed himself off, still a bit paranoid about these updates. 

“Well, we’re in one piece. That’s a good sign.” He turned to face his captain only to find himself overlooking a large chasm. It didn’t look as menacing as it was, with the planet’s surface being covered in lush purple grass-like growths, but it was still deep and not something he’d want to fall into. “Captain?” He called out, hoping his friend didn’t either dissolve or just fall to his death. “Captain?” He said a little louder.

His voice echoed through the cliffside.

The doctor flipped open his communicator. “Enterprise, come in. Uhura, come in.” He shook the tech as if it could be jarred into working. “Enterprise, come in!” 

After a moment, it was apparent this had become more than just a routine away mission. “God dammit!” He put his com away in favor of examining the chasm. There had to be away to safely scale down the side. Honestly, he’d rather be doing anything else, but his only other option would be to tuck in roll as he’d landed on an island. There was nowhere else to go.

He stared for a good five minutes, watching the cliffside shake slightly from the weight of itself before haphazardly choosing a semi-study rock to hold his weight. There wasn’t really much to choose from as the chasm was slowly crumbling, it probably had been like this for thousands of years. 

The doctor tried to be quick, not keeping his weight on one rock for too long as he climbed down. Of course this caused him to slip a few times, fingers already torn up from the jagged edges of the clifside.

Eventually, Leonard had to stop for a moment to catch his breath, body not exactly prepared to do quite this much today. “Fuck,” He breathed, staying there for a few minutes before the ground began to rattle, shaking him free of the small ledge he was clung to. “...SHIT!” 

He did his best brace for impact as his body slammed into the purple foliage. 

Leonard laid still, eyes barely opening, as his brain tried to piece those last few minutes together. “Am I...dead?” 

“Heavens no, what kind of last words would those be?” 

He looked towards the voice to see a masculine figure standing in a starfleet uniform, engineering red. “Ensign, what the devil is going on here? You weren’t part of the landing party.”

“Ensign Q, at your service, human.” Q extended their arm in a slight bow. “Except, not exactly at your service…”

The doctor slowly managed to his feet, instinctively holding his newly swollen wrist. 

"Who are you? Why can't I contact my ship?"

“I suppose we’re skipping formalities today. I’m afraid you’ve never told me your name, Leonard.” Q waved their hand dismissively. “If you’re not going to be polite you’re not going to get anywhere good with me.”

"How did you know my name?" Leonard took a step towards the figure, just realizing exactly how much his body ached. He stumbled. "This was supposed to be a peaceful mission."

“Humans...of course.” The humanoid clasped their hands. “Your kind is always butting into things they don’t belong… an exhausting species really.” They tapped their index finger to their chin with a hint of sarcasm. “This interaction is beyond boring.” 

The figure disappeared. 

"Hey! Wait...what the he-..." 

Leonard rubbed his eyes, unsure if that was a hallucination. After all he was here to collect samples to study later on the ship. And thanks to the fall he would mostly stay ignorant about this planet’s little quirks considering that his bag had been crushed underneath him.

"Of fucking course…" He grumbled, fumbling with his wrist. He concluded it was most likely a sprain, though he didn't want to check himself further. It'd have too wait, he could get checked on when he got back to the ship. 

There wasn't much around him, just miles of purple grass in this deep desolate, yet oddly beautiful valley. 

"Every direction is as good as any," He thought with a sigh, treading in the direction he stood. The rest of the crew has to be out here somewhere. 

It could've been hours or fifteen minutes, Leonard couldn't tell. Time felt… off on this planet. 

Just one of those quirky interstellar discoveries, one that could quickly be confirmed if he had contact with the Enterprise. 

Regardless, Leonard found himself exhausted on his feet, still attempting to trek forward. 

Yet somehow there was still no sign of anything, just purple grass for as far as the doctor's eye could travel. 

His chest heaved with every breath. The doctor concluded that this planet, despite reading safe on the ship's scanners, was not set up for humanoid life. Not for very long, at least. 

Feeling weaker and unable to trudge forward Leonard fell to his knees. Pain shot up from his legs which were further aggravated from his earlier fall. 

His body was worse off than he was willing to admit. Even if he was going nowhere fast, he felt the need to keep going. Maybe it was that he really did have faith in his team, or even the federation; maybe it was the thought of leaving Spock and Pavel alone so suddenly. 

It could very well be both. All he was sure of was that giving up wasn't an option… and also that he was criminally under equipped in this scenario. 

"You're right, this is very unfair." Q materialized right in front of him.

"Do you torture all your guests like this?"

The figure scoffed. "Please, you call this torture? Do you want real torture?"

Leonard struggled to pull himself up to his feet and failed, falling on his hands. "Why are you doing this? What's the point?"

"Why did you come here? What's the point?" They mocked, bending down to look Leonard in the eye. "Maybe I'm trying to get something out of this, too. Why are you trying so damned hard? They usually give up. There's no exit you know."

Leonard returned his gaze, blue eyes tired yet determined. "I will be getting out of here."

"Oh dear, you do believe that don't you?"


	3. An asteroid cluster, a star, or a planet?

Pavel stretched out his arms, stiff from filing for the last few hours. "Well, I think we're done for today." He moved to stand up, massaging his sore wrists as he did so.

"We're barely half done. McCoy will lose his shit.." Lieutenant Christof spoke, nose still in a stack of papers. 

"I'll let you know if that happens."

Christof finally set everything down, resigning to his own tiredness. "Permission to speak freely, sir."

The brunette raised his brow as if trying to figure out what could be so pressing that he'd have to ask. "....granted?"

"Sometimes I forget that you've got him by the dick like that."

The elder man couldn't hold back the grin spreading on his face. "I'm just going to pretend you didn't say that and I'm going to ask that you never do again." He re-adjusted his uniform shirt, still trying not to chuckle. 

"So, are we heading to the mess like usual today?" Maxim stood as well. "I think we could both use a drink. Maybe the good doctor would like to come too?" 

"The captain called him in for something earlier, I'm not even sure he's still on the ship."

Just as Pavel finished his sentence Leonard popped through the door. "How's the paper filing coming?"

"Oh, speak of the devil." Maxim clapped his hands together. "We were just finishing up for the day. Would you like to join us for a drink in the mess?"

"Might as well. There’s nothing to do on this damn ship today. Not that I'm complaining….the less people I see the better."

It didn't take the men long to find themselves in the mess with their choice of synthahol in their hands. 

"So," Pavel started as he took a seat. "Any word on that little shake earlier? The captain either didn't seem to notice or didn't find it important because he never addressed it."

Leonard set his drink down. "Yeah, I think it was just a small asteroid cluster."

"That was pretty loud for a small cluster of space rocks…" Maxim shrugged. 

"It was…" Leonard insisted. "All it did was shook the ship a little bit." He said, promptly taking a swig of his drink. "Nothing serious…"

"Hikaru is usually pretty good at missing those…" Pavel spoke, letting it go even though the answer didn't sound right. "Anyway, what did the captain want from you earlier?"

"He thought the ship's scanners detected a new planet and was getting ready to head down. Damn computer misfired and picked up on a star…"

"Is that even possible?" Maxim inquired, face twisted in mild confusion as he thought about the logistics of it. 

"Do you ever stop asking questions?" There was a hint of annoyance to Leonard's voice. 

"It is a good question...sounds to me like Scotty needs to check up on the ship's censors as soon as possible," Pavel said quickly in an attempt to cut through the suddenly palpable tensity. 

"I think I'll go talk to him about that," Maxim stood from the table. "If you'll excuse me…"

Pavel waited for his friend to leave before giving his boyfriend a tensed look. "We'll talk about this later." 

Eventually, later came with Pavel sitting on the couch trying to stay awake until Leonard came home from his night shift. 

He knew Spock would be busy on the bridge for at least another hour so they wouldn't have to bother him with whatever drama might ensue. 

Sure enough, the doors slid open to reveal a disheveled Leonard McCoy, slain by what was probably a heavy workday.

He only got one step in the door before Pavel spoke. "Are you stressed?"

"Now, what kinda blasted question is that?" He said, words dripping with sarcasm. "Of course I'm stressed 'm ass deep in physicals."

"You're always ass deep in physicals." Pavel sat up, folding his arms over the back of the couch. "What's got you like this?" 

"Oh great, now it's you too. Everybody's gotta question what I say, what I do...You've never been like this before. What's wrong with you?" He raised his voice on the last word, bitter and accusatory, as he looked straight at his boyfriend. 

Pavel leaned away from Leonard almost instinctively. They haven't had a blow-up like this in years. The three of them prided themselves on their ability to talk out pretty much anything. "Leo...I don't understand."

"Well, it wouldn't kill you to try to keep up." He grumbled, walking away from Pavel in favor of their bedroom.

The younger man sat there shocked at his boyfriend's actions. Part of him wanted to follow him, but something else was telling him to stay back. He's not sure he's ever seen Leonard quite like this before.

After a few deep breaths to quell his rising anxiety, and a strong refusal to let his mind wander like it used to, he got up. 

"Leo? Please just tell me what's wrong..." He spoke as he stood in their bedroom doorway. 

x

Meanwhile, on what the doctor now begrudgingly calls "Planet Q", Leonard had continued his long walk to nowhere.

Of course, he didn't know this Q, and it makes logical sense that if you keep walking you'll end up somewhere new (and hopefully helpful). 

Though, Q had other plans for him. They appeared before the doctor. "Good gracious they're worse than you. How do you put up with those people?"

Weakly, Leonard turned to face him. "Leave them alone, the ship," He breathed, realizing just how dehydrated he was. There was no telling how long he'd been here. "They've done nothing to you."

"I'm afraid I can't. At first, I wanted to learn about the little humanoids that found my humble abode…" He clasped his hands as his face feigned hopefulness. 

"However, I quickly only felt contempt for these fleshy rats." He let his face fall into smugness. "Not everything belongs to you, damned humans."

x

"Leo?" He looked around the room. His boyfriend wasn't there. "Leonard?" He called again looking around the quarters. There was no way he could've missed him leaving. 

Confused, and now newly anxious Pavel pressed the com on his bedroom door. "Chekov to Engineering. Come in." When there was no answer he spoke again. "This is not a casual call. Chekov to Engineering. Respond."

After a minute Scotty's unenthused voice came over the com. "Aye, what can I do ya for?" 

"I'll keep this quick, but did Maxim ask you about the ship's censors picking up a star as an inhabitable, safe to land on planet?"

"He did, yes." Scotty continued with a sigh. "I ran a scan on the ship and everything looks fine, however, I do want to talk to you both in person about the records from this morning. If you wouldn't mind grabbing Lieutenant Christof and stopping down?"

"I'll be right there. Chekov out," Pavel quickly managed to gather his friend and make their way to Engineering.

They decided on the way there that Christof would go in first considering that Scotty and Chekov don't really speak often.

"So, I noticed there are gaps in the ship's scan logs. Specifically the time Maxim mentioned that we hit that cluster…" Scotty started, looking at the logs as he spoke. "...the thing is, we know the ship's scanners picked up something. And it was a planet, I was the one who sent the captain the report, but it's not showing that report anywhere. We have a two-hour gap in these reports."

"The captain was supposed to have sent…." Pavel hesitated for a moment before continuing, "he sent Leonard to that planet and since he's been back he's been acting strangely…"

"Has anyone checked the transport logs?" Maxim asked, already heading for a console. "If he left this ship and came back there has to be something here…"

"...of course he came back," Pavel urged, not willing to take anything else as an answer. "It's not possible that he didn't."

Maxim clicked away on the console. It seemed to take forever, but finally, the console pinged and a list of transport logs loaded in. "...these logs say he did leave this morning, but he never returned…"

"...but he was just home! We just talked!"

"It could just be a malfunction…" Scotty said, trying to ease the tension in the room. "These damn systems have been acting up all day in one way or another…"

“This is too strange not to bring to the captain!” Pavel’s voice raised in worry. 

Scotty sighed, “I know, but these things do happen sometimes. This ship malfunctions a hell of a lot. I’ll pass these reports along to the captain, but for now, you need to go home and forget this.”

Pavel made a face, but before he was able to speak Scotty spoke up again, “There’s an almost hundred percent chance that Mccoy just beamed to another place on the ship as per the captain’s orders. Don’t overthink this, Chekov.”

“I-,” Pavel began, deciding to just drop it. He knew he had an issue with worrying, specifically worrying too much. “Okay…”


	4. Not my Bones

Pavel took Scotty’s advice, though he wasn’t sure exactly how much he could trust the engineer. 

It had been hours since their conversation, and his and Leonard’s argument before that. The brunette was curled up on the couch, an awful feeling made itself at home in his belly. Things just didn’t feel right, but he could quite pinpoint what, especially if Scotty was saying everything was probably fine.

His ears perked to the sound of the doors opening. “Pasha?” It was Leonard, his voice was soft and sweet. It made Pavel roll his eyes.

“I don’t really want to speak with you right now.” He rolled so he was facing away from the older man. 

“I wish to apologize…”

Pavel peeked over the back of the couch at him, brows raised. “Do you now? I wish I never had to deal with that kind of shit from you…”

“Me too,” The doctor spoke, crossing the room. He sat in front of the couch on the floor. “I shouldn’t have taken out my stressful day on you…”

The younger man sat up, looking at him expectantly. “...and?”

“I’m sorry…” Leonard leaned in, placing a kiss on Pavel’s hand which was situated on his knee. He lifted his gaze up to his boyfriend’s face. “You don’t deserve to be yelled at.”

“You’re still a big jerk,” Pavel cracked a grin, “...but I accept your apology.”

The older man, gaining confidence, placed his hand on Pavel’s stomach and gently pushed him against the couch.

With a giggle the young russian fell back. “Hey, I’m still kinda mad at you." He watched his boyfriend sat up on his feet.

"Is there anything I could do to make you less mad at me?" He said with a smirk, looking at the man before him up and down. 

"You know Spock will be home soon." Pavel bent down to kiss his boyfriend. "Unless you really think fifteen minutes is enough time?"

"He's always free to join, darlin'," The doctor climbed up on the couch, hovering over Pavel. 

That feeling was back again. That sinking, awful , something is very off feeling. Pavel looked up at him. "....you know he isn't up for this kind of thing"

Leonard feigned a frown. "I know, sweetheart, but I wish he did."

"Get off of me." Pavel said firmly. "I'm not in the mood anymore…"

"Don't be daft...It was just a joke, Pasha."

The younger man shoved Leonard off of him, standing up quickly. "...I wish to apologize. Don't be daft? Who the hell are you?" 

"I really wish you hadn't done that." The other being rose to their feet. 

"Who are you? What did you do with Leonard?" He repeated firmly, standing his ground despite wanting to run the other way. 

"So, what really gave me away?" Q returned to their own crafted humanoid state. "Perhaps my inability to understand the sewer rat of a person you've grown so fond of…" They cleared their throat just as Pavel opened his mouth. "You're in no position to be asking the questions, mortal."

Pavel swallowed, hard. "You're not going to talk about him like that."

"Damned uppity mortals." Q disappeared in a cloud of smoke. 

Just then Spock came walking in with a stack of ship-logs. He set them down on a side table.

"Spock, there's something really...really messed up going on."

"I know, the captain caught me up to speed." His voice was level in contrast to Pavel's. "Kirk has officially declared Leonard missing."

Pavel instantly felt lightheaded, wildly overwhelmed. He couldn't make himself form the words to even begin to explain what he'd witnessed. "I'm going to pass out."

Spock's arms found their way to the younger man's sides as he led them to the couch. "We'll find him…" He said softly. 

"You don't understand I just…" He buried his face in the Vulcan's chest. "Something was pretending to be him… they were just here."

Spock's fingers lifted Pavel's chin so they were facing each other. He stayed quiet for a moment, unsure what to say from here. He had no more answers to this than anyone else. "Did he hurt you?"

"Now's not the time to be looking after me…" The younger man deflected. "Leo's out there somewhere alone…"

The Vulcan's face fell as he wrapped his arms around Pavel even tighter. "I do believe whatever was on that planet didn't want to be found…"

"Kirk to Commander Spock, Lieutenant Chekov…" The captain's voice came over the com. 

Spock reached out to the com button on the wall. "Spock here…"

"I just wanted to let you know that I'm sending a team down to that planet. We managed to locate it again. We'll let you know what we find, Kirk out."

"Oh no, I'm going down there…" Pavel went to get up, but Spock held him in place.

"You'll only end up making a bad judgement call. Your emotions will get the better of you." The Vulcan tried to reason with him.

"We need to be there!" Pavel ripped out of his boyfriend's grip. "How can you be so cold about this?"

"I do not want to be the one that makes a mistake and gets him killed!" Spock yelled out, instantly regretting it. His voice softened, "I do not trust my own judgement." 

x

"Send us out, Mr. Scott." Kirk nodded to his chief engineer. 

"Safe travels." Scotty spoke as he pressed the transport button sending Kirk and Christof down to the unidentified planet. 

The two men landed safely on soft vibrant purple grass.

Christof took a deep breath, the atmosphere heavy on his lungs but otherwise fine. "It's so quiet, Captain. No signs of sentient life anywhere." The device in his hands beeped quietly as he pointed it every which way. "Absolutely nothing."

"We know that can't be quite right, let's continue on." Kirk began walking. "This way…" 

Christof followed the captain, cautiously looking around as they went. The dead silence was starting to get to him. "It's so quiet you can't even hear a breeze."

"Scan our immediate surroundings for anything strange, Lieutenant." Kirk called behind himself, intent on finding his friend as soon as possible. 

The lieutenant began scanning their surroundings, looking for anything abnormal. "Captain, this is going to sound strange, but these readings are too consistent. It's as if the land is repeating itself. By walking around we're not going anywhere…"

"How is that possible?"

"Well, there is this theory that somewhere in every universe there is a space where every universe overlaps. I never understood it to be so literal, but I believe that's what we're experiencing." 

“So, you’re telling me that every step is a new universe?” The captain questioned. “How do we know how many steps back was ours?”

“All things considered, it may just be up to the ship to find us…” Maxim spoke, gaze fixed upwards. “We’re completely cut off, unless of course, we do actually manage to step foot in our own universe by chance. Then, we might be able to contact the ship, but again, that’s highly unlikely.”

“Well, we’re going to have to bet on highly unlikely, Lieutenant. Check your signal with every step. I want to know about even the slightest adjustments…”

“Yes Captain.” Maxim nodded, as they began walking again he kept his nose in his scanner.


End file.
